Auld Lang Syne

The Catch happened 30 years ago this week, launching a 49er empire, and there is a lot of nostalgia floating around Centennial Blvd. these days. Montana, Lott, Rice, Craig, and Clark were all onstage Tuesday night for some sort of hoot and holler event. The timing of this remembrance is kind of spooky with the team now, once again, trying to start another empire.

Both the 1981 team and this team caught everyone by surprise and both finished the season with 13-3 records. We’ll see how the rest of the similarities work out, beginning this Saturday against the Saints.

All of us were quite a bit younger thirty years ago, to state the obvious. Those of you who are bald had hair. Those of you who are portly were not. Those of you who were ugly still are! Haha. Just kidding. We’re all beautiful in the land of the red and gold.

30 years is a good chunk of a man’s life. Time enough to go from dreaming about who you would become to actually becoming it, whether that becomenance was what you thought you’d be or something quite different. 1982 not only was the year 49er history changed, but so did the world’s. It was the year the personal computer age arrived in earnest.

My own world on that pivotal 1982 afternoon was located in a roach infested one room skid row tenement joint with Vietnamese refugees as neightbors. I watched that game by myself on a 13 inch black and white TV, which was the only luxury I owned, other than my typewriter. My car was a broken down old Buick with a leaky radiator that gave me about ten miles of driving before the water ran out. My girl friend was the checker at a local supermarket who had no idea who I was. She was cute and perky and I sometimes wonder what idiot she ended up wasting her life on.

That was the Brown Derby era of my life. You could pick up a box of 24 of those 11 oz dillies for $2. About two months after The Catch, I went to work for a friend doing computer data entry and I’ve been staring at PC monitors every day of my life since.

Jed York was either in diapers or in utero in 1982. Most of you were in your teens or twenties. I’ve followed a lot of sports for a lot of years, but what began for the 49ers in 1982 was the single greatest franchise run I ever saw in any sport. The only other run comparable might be the 1920s and 30s Yankees, but that was before my time.

Back to the present, the 49ers have the best defense and the Saints the best offense, so this game is a best vs best deal, and thus uninteresting to the fickle gods of football. Those characters had a big laugh in Denver last weekend, where the best pass defense went up against the worst passing offense and got torched. Worst over Best is a real knee-slapper in godsville. But Best vs Best? Yawn. The outcome can’t be twisted.

I’m not even going to mention Patrick Willis’ hamstring. Mum’s the word on whether that baby is 100+% ready this Saturday and not even one teensy thought of re-pulling it is flitting around in the back of Patrick’s brain while he’s covering Jimmy Graham. Go away, bad thought. Scram. And don’t drift over to Ray McDonald’s hammie, either. You know, right next to Justin Smith’s injured knee. We’re only talking about the big three heart of our defense here. Or would be, if I were to mention it, which I’m not.

Frank Gore says he’s okay. That’s good. When he says he’s fine, he’s not. When he says he feels great, forget it. His ankle’s broke and he won’t last one set of downs. But okay is good. Terrific, even.

Over the next three and a half loooooooooooooooooong days, we’ll see every analysis in the world about the 49ers and the Saints. Even marginal fans will be able to grasp the gist of this deal by then. In the end, it’s just football, though. We need to go out there and knock the snot out of these punks. From the opening kick off to the final whistle. Go Niners!!!

65 comments on “Auld Lang Syne”

One thing I think the 49er could do is intimidate the Saints. I don’t think intimidation works at this leave often, especially against a world champion like the Drew Brees-lead Saints. The Saints have men on their team like Carl Nicks. There is nothing soft about Darren Sproles. But I do think Patrick Willis, Bowman, Brooks, Aldon, Whitner and Goldson could put some guys in the hospital playing as amped up as they will be.
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I don’t want Goldson gambling because lately he’s taken some bad angles that could result in touchdowns against the offense. But if the defense lays a big lick early – like Ronnie used to call “whew,” hits, I think it would go a long way towards making guys like Graham, Mecheam and Thomas play scared. If I was Fangio, I’d put a bounty out on the first big hit and tell the team the coaches will look the other way and accept the penalty yardage if the hit keeps the Saints dude on the turf for a while.
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The 49ers took a long string of running backs out of games and put them on the injured list this year. They knocked Blount and J Best out for a significant part of their seasons – Blount proved out for the year. The D needs to do that in this playoff game. The defense needs to KNOCK GUYS THE F OUT OF THE GAME. The Saints’ offense needs to sit on the sidelines and look at each other and say, “Dude, SF is hittin’ some dudes out there…. they just knocked so ‘n so the F out.” If our defense does that….. we only lose by ten points instead of the 14 I originally predicted. I’m feeling generous, and more patriotic this morning.

Dashon Goldson is was and will be a hit or miss guy. His 6 picks are surrounded by bad angles, trailing plays when he shouldn’t, and him not wrapping up guys as they get by him. The general concensus though is that this secondary is worlds better than any in their recent (or not-so-recent) past.

The Niners give up passing yards, but they have done a very good job of not giving up the home run. This game comes down to pressure. If they are going to hit anyone with regularity, let’s hope it’s caterpillar-face.
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As KC showed with Rodgers, pressure is the great equalizer. Harass Brees, and he’ll throw picks.

I agree about Dashon. I wnat the Free Safety to be be that a safety. Too often Goldson guesses wrong or takes the wrong angle or wrong read. I always see him being a spectator on the deep balls because he’s 2 seconds late.
Big hits are great but you still have to make the basic plays.
Last year on Drivers TD catch is indicative of Dashon’s playing style. I just want him to play basic fundamental football. Make the tackles you’re supposed to and be there when they go over the top deep.

Dashon is no Ed Reed, and FS remains an area to upgrade at some point, but we’re light years better than the days of Mike Adams and Marc Roman. I’d also like to upgrade T. Brown, and Alex, and Ginn, and VD, and Snyder. Things can only happen as fast as they can happen.

Grump, that’s what I’m referring to. There were very few plays like that against this secondary this year.
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Rogers has been a Godsend. Shit, even Whitner has done well. For guys that they picked up on the cheap, they are doing well. I hated Goldson as much as the next guy, and for his faults, he’s played much better this year than the last 2.

Hey Chuck — thanks for the heads up about the Classic game recast last night. I raced down and caught the mid 2nd quarter on. It was great seeing most of it over again. It’s the first time since the game I had a chance to. 30 years later and in truth the only thing I remembered was The Catch and subsequent short lived drive where I was terrified Dallas was going to go down and score a GW field goal. I watched as a 20 nothing with a group of about 6 friends in Cupertino. Drunk and stoned, which may explain some of my memory issues.

Some random observations on that game — It is astounding how much larger modern NFL players are than 30 years ago. DL Stuckey looked smaller than most TE’s today. Ayers had a monster game pulling in the run game. Montana missed some passes (shocking!). I really use to hate that Dallas OL up/down maneuver right before they set. Ya gotta love the 80’s mustached/porn star look. And the hair, did I mention the hair? The refs sucked. The first PI call on Lott was atrocious. It reminded me of other notorious calls against us in the playoffs (1983 PI call vs. WASH in the NFC Championship game). If we get beat Saturday, I want it to be by the SAINTS. I do NOT want any freaking bad calls effecting the outcome. That sh*t is hard to live with.

Also, regarding Brown, I think he’s done better than the blogs give him credit for. Every corner gets burned from time to time, he has actually IMO played pretty solid this year. Rogers is better, no doubt, but Brown has been pretty solid in (I think) his first year as a starter. Upgrades are always possible, but I think he’ll be better still.

Yeah, Montana had a shit game that day. 6 turnovers and they still won. It should have been a cakewalk. The Niners were moving up and down the field all day.
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Mike Shumann, the 3rd striong WR who ended up being the sportscaster for Ch 5 (I think) for years used to say about that game, everyone remembers the last Niner catch of that day, but I made the FIRST catch that day.

“I’d also like to upgrade T. Brown, and Alex, and Ginn, and VD, and Snyder. Things can only happen as fast as they can happen.”

AS was upgraded the moment he realized there was a new coach who could help him and the O improve. I’m sure Harbaugh will keep developing QBs until he’s done coaching and upgrades there would be welcome. It’s a pleasant feeling having some confidence in Coach that the team will continue to improve esp. the offense

The day of the catch I was on a several-day geology field trip in rural San Diego county, at a gem tourmaline mine. I had my little crappy transistor radio with the earphone, and somehow or other I managed to find a local CBS station broadcasting the game. When the crowd went berserk with 58 seconds left, I knew we had scored, but it took a few moments for me to actually hear what had happened. Needless to say, even at the age of 20, I had several near fracking heart attacks over those few minutes. When Stuckey recovered the fumble to end it, I was in shock. A friend of mine asked what happened and I just said: “We won. They’re going to the Super Bowl.” After that awful day in ’72, it hardly seemed possible. My dad recorded the game on our crappy old VCR and I watched it when I got home a couple of days later.

I still have that tape. Every couple of years, I pull it out and watch it. And every time, I’m amazed.

My time capsule for the ’81 Championship was having my wifes’ nieces’ boyfriend over for the game.
He was a diehard ‘Boys fan and didn’t want to watch in our home because he thought we’d jinx them.
I invited him to bring any lucky momentos he felt he needed, just to show my good sportsmanship.
He agreed to show, and arrived carrying a suitcase filled with Cowboy trinkets ranging from pennants, hats,signed photos and, even Dallas Cowboy branded soda cans.
He literally engulfed my TV set with that sh!t.

My Son, about 5 at the time, promptly ran to his room and grabbed every stitch of Red and Gold he owned and rearranged the TV altar.
Somewhere in all that clutter, 9er MOJO arrived and blessed our home.

I’d love to find that Polaroid we took of my son and Skinny Ricky sitting in front of all the Cowboy 9er merchandise. PRICELESS!

“While much of the praise was reserved for the defense, Montana did have some positive reflection on 49ers QB Alex Smith, explaining the difficult circumstances under which he has played his first five seasons. “When he’s in a rhythm, he makes great decisions,” Montana said. And “as he becomes more successful, he’ll get more confident.”

I love how Unca’s favorite saying is “any given Sunday,” when he’s pumping himself up about the Niners’ next opponent, but he’ll completely deny that same randomness of the regular season if it helps him belittle that same opponent.

“Any given Sunday” the Niners can beat the Saints – it’s possible they’d be the better team that day, but with the Saints and Rams, the Rams are clearly the better team and it shows what a fluke the Saints are to even be here. What…ever. Unca is starting to sound like Flying V. Maybe Unca and Flying V are the same person. I’ve always wondered.

The Saints Safeties have not intercepted a pass this year in 17 games. Most unusual for a pair of Safeties not to even get one pick.
Their CBs have only 7 picks total.
Interesting tidbits keep coming out about the game.

The Cards are actually a decent team, V-lite. The Lambs? TB? No. See the difference? Of course not.
The point being, NO sucks on the road.
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Another thing, BDF, I’ve never said ‘any given Sunday’ about this team. A team that comes HERE says that. The Niners have shown repeatedly that they are a quality team. So is NO, but they suck on the road. Get it? Brees has 0 playoff wins on the road. They struggle on grass. Get it?
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Of course not. You take nothing into account except for the fact you want to get reactions. Like a whiny little 6 year old bitch.

I think everyone would agree the Rams game was a fluke and you’re making too much out of it. The Saints lost three games on the road, and the Niners lost two. Both teams went 13-3. I don’t think anyone would make the claim the 49ers are a bad road team, and I don’t think the Saints are a bad road team either. I think the Saints play well on the road, and they play well on grass. You’re clearly looking for angle to make yourself feel better. That’s okay, but I ain’t buyin’ it. You and Flying V are the same person. We all know it. I’ve suspected it for years.

Now how the hell does this happen?
Leigh Steinberg filed for bankruptcy. Where did all the money go? Up his snout?
One of my buddies went to Cal with him and thought he was a very smart guy. Apparently not.

What I’m saying is the Niners faced tougher competition on the road, won. Their only road loss was the Thursday night game in Balt.
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East coast teams don’t for the most part travel well. NO plays on fake grass. They played last week and the Niners didn’t. They have a short week to prepare. These things add up to the Niners having the advantage. You are just like the talking heads out there in TV-land. They sit around and get blinded by the perception that NO dominated the game last week. They didn’t. It was 24-21 NO to start the 4th quarter. Then Schwartz got stupid and greedy and gave the game away.
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That’s your diss, Veegina? Weak sauce, skippy. My dog is funnier than you by a mile.

Ok… the Saints played last week, the Niners didn’t. The Niners are at home, the Saints aren’t. The Niners lost one less road game. The game’s on grass. So why in the world are the Saints now favored by 3.5? Guess Vegas is crazy.

Spitty You never answered my question about your original prediction that Saints win by 13.5 points. Now only a moron and an imbecile would include .5 points which is basically impossible to achieve unless the NFL changes their rules.
Spitty has no clue, never did and never will.

Bullit,
I was hoping some numskull would bet with me. I’m positive you’re not aware, so I’ll explain. The .5 makes it impossible for a push, unless of course the old Paul Brown play is pulled off where the center on a PAT hikes the ball, then stands up and the kicker bounces the ball off his helmet, through the goalposts. Then the team is awarded 1.5 pts. However, that rarely happens anymore because the helmets are now made of carbon fiber.

I’ll take the latter for minus 26 pts, Alex.
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Alex: The final score of the Saints / Niner Game….
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Contestant #1: 100.5 to 5.5.
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Alex: Nope, sorry.
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Contestant #2: “What is” 100.5 to 5.5.
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Alex: Correct! Please remember to begin your responses with “What is,” in the form of a question. That game was the only one in NFL history where two Paul Brown extra points were executed. Amazing. And now to our sponsors…

The astute imbecile might ask, “how did the 49ers execute the Paul Brown 1.5 extra point play if they never scored a touchdown? There’s an old rule, not very well known, that states if a team if getting their Sheboygan handed to them, they can attempt the Paul Brown play on a field goal as well.

” My own world on that pivotal 1982 afternoon was located in a roach infested one room skid row tenement joint with Vietnamese refugees as neightbors. I watched that game by myself on a 13 inch black and white TV, which was the only luxury I owned, other than my typewriter. My car was a broken down old Buick with a leaky radiator that gave me about ten miles of driving before the water ran out. My girl friend was the checker at a local supermarket who had no idea who I was. She was cute and perky and I sometimes wonder what idiot she ended up wasting her life on.”

Thing is, Shitblood, if the Niners win this game, you will give them no credit, and whine about how shitty the team is, and how they’ll lose the next game. It’s the beauty of being a dickhead.
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But it’s also the reason why you are a hopeless troll and no one likes you . . .

Soooo, when you lose the argument you fall back on insults? Typical.
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I’ve never, not once, ever, wanted an online friendship. I know you and Bullit met on EHarmony, but that’s not my bag. What I do here is advance the argument and debate. Unlike you, Unca, I don’t sit around and declare everything with the 49ers peachy, roses. I’m like a wolf. Lol. I attack the weakness of the herd, ya turd. When the weakness is gone, the team will go on legitimate Super Bowl runs. With Alex Smith, because of the weak NFC West, the 49ers are playoff contenders and Super Bowl pretenders. You’ll see… oh, and I don’t give a sheat if some old rundown mechanic or lumberjack (whatever you were) doesn’t like me. You should know better by now.

Unca,
In addition, two years ago I was the one telling you Singletary was full of it. I was the first person to tell you and the blog world that Singletary and his religious cross were complete bull crap. Coffee, Balmer, Lewis, Everest, McCloughan… Linehan wouldn’t coach for him, etc. I told you the Niners would suck last year under Singletary simply because of the way Singletary treated people – no other reason. That’s exactly what happened when the rest of the blog world was drinking the koolaid. Before that, I told you the Niners had quit on Nolan. At the beginning of this year, I told the blog world first, before anyone else, that the 49ers would be better than people thought AND that they would compete for the division when guys like you were saying, “I don’t expect much, maybe 6-10.” I’ve been right straight across the board about the 49ers on the big topics, and I’m right about Alex Smith. Sure, there have been little things along the way that I’ve been dead wrong about, but most of the time I’m telling you (not the other way around), what’s going to happen. You read press quotes and can’t think for yourself.
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Look at this upcoming game. The 49ers’ secondary is ranked 29th or something like that. The Saints passing game is ranked first. This will take away the 49ers’ run game and make Smith pass – a formula Smith has proven he can’t carry the load with. It’s a losing formula. Brad Seeley has already pulled out all his stops with onside kicks during the Giants’ game, a fake punt during the Cardinals’ game and a fake field goal during the Rams’ game. The Saints will be on guard. The only thing Seeley has left to try is the double reverse on the kickoff or punt. Harbaugh and Roman are a lot like Seeley. They’ve used up all their tricks to get the offense firing, and they’re still kicking field goals at a record pace. Think for yourself, Unca. For once, dude. Answer me this question – how the hell are the 49ers going to score?
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It’s not that I won’t give Smith and the 49ers credit. If I’m wrong, I say or write I’m wrong. But it doesn’t happen often. If the 49ers beat the Saints, I’ll be the first one to say I was wrong.

Love it. 2 things I noticed on here @ 1:15 or so DC has caught the ball, TD has been signaled and the camera cuts to Bill. Someone slaps him on the back, he turns away from the field and for a moment we see his face. He’s choked up, almost in tears and quickly turns away again from the camera. He knows what the moment means for the Niners and for himself. Destiny has been fulfilled, hard work, faith and hope have been rewarded. The future will never be the same for all of them. Even for us.

Remember TO getting choked up catching that laser from Young against the Pack? Like that but better.

Also at the 1:09 point Clark catches the ball. This is the best shot for what follows. Recently he explained “Most people don’t realize there were two parts to that catch. First I stopped the ball in the air. Then I had to grab it as I came down.” You can see him grabbing the ball at about his chest area and he stops moving his hands, the ball secure at about his stomach area. He takes two steps, spike! History!

You also said Whitehurst would lead Seattle to the playoffs. McNabb was a stud, and Kolb was going to be wonderful in AZ.All the NFC teams improved but the Niners. Oh, was that V? Don’t fricking bring up Nolan. Everyone knew he screwed the pooch in 2007. Long before your stupid ass showed up here or anywhere.
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I picked 8-8 and winning the West, douchebag. Don’t lie, prick. That’s all you got, though. Misrepresentation and bullshit.
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I see your shelf life is running out here. Your screeds are getting longer and more nonsensical. Sayonara motherfurker.

Dude, you’re so full of it. You said you didn’t expect much out of the season. You didn’t predict 8-8. You said it was a rebuilding year. Give us all a break.
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In addition, I never said I thought Kolb would be great or that McNabb was a stud. I did say I wanted McNabb, but notice a theme… I want McNabb, Flynn, Kolb, Hasslebeck, Kaepernick, Nate Davis… Matt Moore. Know why? They’re anyone but Alex Smith and the 49er organization is stuck on stupid with Alex Smith. Just good enough to lose, again and again. So yeah, I wanted McNabb, to unseat Alex. Plain and simple – give me someone else. Anyone else. Regarding the Cardinals and Kolb, I liked then and still like now how aggressively Whizzerhurtz is trying to find his franchise qb. They are paying, rotating, cutting and evaluating. That’s the way you do it. I never said Kolb was going to be good. I just said I liked the willingness to go after a qb – like the 49ers haven’t been able to do (unless you consider David Carr a good option). Oh, and while we’re at it – how’d supporting Carr over Shaun Hill work out for you, party line guy? Nice evaluation there.
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Finally, that leads us to my boy, Charlie Whitehurtz. I still believe in him, and yeah, I thought at first (at the beginning of the strike shorten year) that Seattle would win the division, but after the SeaChickens brought in Jackson, Gallery, Rice, etc. I pulled my prediction down and went with the Rams and Niners competing to the end because I didn’t like the acquisitions Carroll had made and thought it would affect his team’s chemistry. I still like Whitehurst and contend the reason the SeaChickens went with T Jax is because their line was young and they needed an athletic qb – and because their OC came over from the Vikes during a strike shortened year. Just because a guy like Carroll doesn’t use Whitehurst right doesn’t mean he’s a bust.
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So there it is. You’re a liar. I’m a geneous. I win again. Strike up the band – “We are the champions…. again.”

You think McNabb would have done better than 13-3 here? You are dense. How would that have improved things here? One more loss, and the Niners are the 3 seed. Which means another game.
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Read my blog, simpleton. I know you can’t post there anymore but you can read it. I called 8-8 and the division.
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Like I said, the end is coming soon, skippy. You are blathering yourself out of another blog.

In retrospect McNabb clearly wouldn’t have been better than Alex Smith and Harbaugh made the right move. The problem with you, Charles, is that you don’t realize things change along with everyone’s opinions. Before the start of the season I was clamoring for Hasselbeck, Kolb, McNabb… anyone. But if you remember correctly, after the strike began I was also the one saying bringing back Alex Smith is the smart move. On your blog, Barley was saying, “Stop the presses, he wants Smith back.” Do you remember that? Things change. I’m sure even though you’re all hopped up on goof balls you can still squeeze the concept into your pea brain.
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Why don’t you go find the link to your blog where you declare the 49ers will go 8-8. You do that and I’ll apologize to you for calling you a liar. Don’t do that, and it’s like I wrote…

Ok, here it is, skippy:
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unca_chuck says:
September 11, 2011 at 11:40 am
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“Nice job, Grump. It’s pretty much how I feel. This team now has a shot against bad teams. Good teams they’ll need to get their shit in order. Dallas? They were destined to fail with Squishy Phillips as the HC. He’s in his comfort zone as a DC. Much like Sing as a LB coach. They should be better this year with Garreett in and Romo back.
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As the season goes, though, the Niners should be improving as they go along. Can they get good enough for Balt and Pitts? MAYBE they take one, and that would be a perfect effort.
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I’m still saying 8-8 and they win the west.”
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I guess that means you must leave forever, dipshit. I even got the split right between Balt and Pittsburgh. You? You were pining over Nate Davis and Charley Whitehead.

One more for old-time’s sake, furko
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Spitblood says:
September 13, 2011 at 1:07 pm
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“The criteria for competition in the fight for WORST QUARTERBACK IN 49ER HISTORY is that you must have at least 48 starts, or three years under your belt.
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Then we are going to compare wins and loses, TDs, INTs, and completion percentage.
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What else is relevant? I’m throwing out qb rating because that’s only been around for a while, and total passing yards isn’t fair because some guys played longer than others. I’m not getting into comparing certain years of productivity. It’s everything, baby.”
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So, what does 13-3 mean, skippy? How about 17 TDs and 5 ints?
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Yeah, it’s one year. But it’s this year, and Smith’s first year under any kind of decent coaching. You give Whitehead 10 miles of rope for sucking pole. Same with the retired McNabb. Troll, baby troll.

Nice try. September 11th is the date of the first “regular” season game. Our predictions, the ones that mattered, were done before “preseason” even began. Any knucklehead (you) can predict after you watch the preseason. Before we saw any Harbaugh product, when I predicted 8-7 going into the last game of the year, and when Skeebers predicted 11-5 or whatever he predicted, is what matters. Be a man, Chuck. Find your predictions before the preseason started.

Actually you’re in no position to demand or dictate anything here.
You just posted you weren’t here to make friends. The purpose of this blog is to discuss 49er football and share opinions.
The one thing that everyone else has and you don’t is the respect of fellow posters and creditbility.
You choose to go against the grain
by being a punk and dismissing the truth. In every disussion that you lose (almost always) you start stretching the truth and when pinned you always resort to
what differenec does it make?
How does this work? You swear and deny being Spitblood but when it benefits you suddenly you refer back to old posts on other blogs when you were Spitblood which paints you as a big fat liar and first class ahole.
Perhaps you are too stupid of a punk to realize that an apology from a liar is just that, a lie.
You are a joke and a fool that just can’t be taken seriously.

Wrong-o Spitty. You asked for my prediction. I provided it.
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“But but but . . . ”
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As well as being a liar, you are an unmitigated little fluffy kitty.

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To recap, here’s what you wrote:
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“Why don’t you go find the link to your blog where you declare the 49ers will go 8-8. You do that and I’ll apologize to you for calling you a liar. Don’t do that, and it’s like I wrote…”